Children 1st @ Clowne

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at nursery and quickly settle with their chosen activity. Children behave well. For example, they are polite and take turns with others. Toddlers and pre-school children readily volunteer to help staff set the table for lunchtime. Children do things for themselves. They serve themselves healthy food at lunchtime, they scrape leftover food off their plates and pour their own drinks. This supports children's growing independence skills.

Children are problem solvers. They are keen to take part in adult-led activities. For example, pre-school children excitedly work together to build a tractor from loose parts. They eagerly share ideas and listen to each other as they work out where to put the seats and the steering wheel. Children refer to their previous planning where they have worked out the number of wheels they need. Staff present children with additional challenge, such as how to build a roof. Children concentrate and say, 'I am thinking how we could do it.' They persevere as staff encourage them to test out ideas. Children are supervised as together they safely lift plastic crates and roll tyres to the correct place. This helps children learn to cooperate with each other.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

• The provider has a positive approach to making improvements since the last inspection. Leaders have supported staff to fully understand what they want children to learn, and are providing enticing activities to enhance children's learning experiences. Additionally, managers have reviewed supervision arrangements across the provision to ensure children are kept safe from any potential risks.
• Staff help children develop their small-muscle skills. For example, staff say, 'Shake, shake' as they demonstrate how to use rattles. Babies copy, carefully grasping rattles to shake them back and forth. Pre-school children engage in transient art. They use small items, such as cotton reels and twigs, to create pictures. Staff talk with children about what they have used. Children move items around and proudly show staff the changes. This helps children develop the muscles they need for early writing.
• Staff understand how to implement the nursery curriculum to help children continually learn and gain further knowledge. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. However, occasionally, staff do not interact as effectively as they could. This means children could make even more progress.
• Staff support children to develop their growing physical skills. For example, babies develop core muscles. They gain confidence as they are encouraged to stretch and reach for toys. Toddlers climb steps to the exciting indoor play area.
• They climb through tunnels, shuffle along ramps and jump in the ball pool. This helps children develop their muscle strength and coordination skills.
• In general, staff support children to recognise their own care needs. However, occasionally, staff can be overly helpful. They wipe children's noses for them when they can do it themselves. Additionally, when staff encourage children to put dirty tissues in the bin, they sometimes forget to remind children to wash their hands. This means children are receiving inconsistent messages on how to meet their own personal care needs.
• Staff provide healthy meals and fresh drinking water. They ensure children's dietary requirements and allergies are catered for. Staff have a process in place to ensure information is passed on correctly. This includes having clear information on children's mealtime place mats.
• Overall, story time is implemented well. Babies enjoy looking at pictures with staff. Pre-school children listen intently to a story about vehicles. They eagerly suggest ideas and repeat well known phrases. However, toddler story time is disrupted by high noise levels coming from another room. Staff make noise as they set the table for teatime and change children's clothes. Toddlers lose focus and become distracted. This means children's learning is disrupted, as they are unable to fully listen and engage in the activity.
• Parents are positive about the care their children receive. They feel their children are developing their physical and social skills. Parents say their children are making good progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review toddler story and singing time to ensure there are no distractions to enable children to fully engage in the activity
• support staff to improve interactions with children to ensure all children make continually good progress
• encourage children to recognise and appropriately manage their own personal care needs.